Germany, The Next Republic? eBook

“In this changed spirit he reflected the sentiment
of the German people. His sermon of Saturday
has evoked the deepest approval everywhere.

“‘We know,’ be said, ’that
before us is the decisive battle which can be fought
through only with the greatest sacrifices. But
in all cases of the past God has helped us, and God
will fight for us to-day, through our leaders and
our soldiers. We neither willed nor wanted this
war—­neither the Kaiser nor the people.
We hoped for peace as the Kaiser extended his peace
proposal, but with unheard of frivolity and insults
our enemies slapped the back of the Kaiser’s
extended hand of peace.

“’To such enemies there is only one voice—­that
of the cannon. We continue the war with a clear
conscience and with trust in God that he will bring
us victory. God cannot—­he will not—­permit
the German people to go down.’”

“GOD WILL NOT PERMIT THE GERMAN PEOPLE TO GO
DOWN”

* * * * *
* * *

CHAPTER IX

THE BERNHARDI OF THE SEAS

After the break in diplomatic relations the slogan
of German Militarism became:

“Win or lose, we must end the war.”

To many observers it seemed to be insanity coupled
with desperation which caused the Kaiser to defy the
United States. There was no doubt that Germany
was desperate, economically, morally and militarily.
While war had led German armies far into enemy territory,
it had destroyed German influence throughout the world;
it had lost Germany’s colonies and Pacific possessions
and it had turned the opinion of the world against
Germany. But during the time Germany was trying
to impress the United States with its sincerity after
the Sussex incident the German Navy was building
submarines. It was not building these ships
to be used in cruiser warfare. It was building
them for the future, when submarine war would be launched
on a big scale, perhaps on a bigger scale than it
had ever before been conducted.

After the new blockade of the Allied Coast was proclaimed,
effective Feb. 1, 1917, some explanation had to be
made to convince the public that the submarine war
would be successful and would bring the victory which
the people had been promised. The public was
never informed directly what the arguments were which
convinced the Kaiser that he could win the war by
using submarines. But on the 9th of February
there appeared a small book written by Rear Admiral
Hollweg entitled: “Unser Recht auf den
Ubootkrieg.” (Our Right in Submarine Warfare.)
The manuscript of this book was concluded on the 15th
of January, which shows that the data which it contained
and the information and arguments presented were those
which the Admiralty placed before the Kaiser on his
birthday. The points which Rear Admiral Hollweg
makes in his book are:

1. America’s unfriendly neutrality justifies
a disregard of the United States;